Culture and Activities

Over the past decade, the arts have transformed Southwest Florida into one of the state’s most cosmopolitan areas. Audiences delight in our performing arts scene, where talented local actors bring life to Broadway favorites and new plays at intimate community playhouses. Fine arts lovers will enjoy a host of exceptional galleries and studios. The galleries are bursting with brilliant renderings of the picturesque local environment, unique wildlife and breathtaking sunsets. In addition to the natural selections, you’ll find a wide variety of modernism, cubism, impressionism and abstract arts.

In Naples, thePhilharmonic Center for the Arts (Artis – Naples) is the premier performing arts hall in Southwest Florida, hosting more than 400 events a year including world-class dance, opera, classical and popular music and Broadway musicals. The Phil features four art galleries and two sculpture gardens. The Collector's Corner offers an outstanding variety of art and rare gifts for sale.

Another venue for Southwest Florida performing arts is Fort Myers’ Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall. For 20 years the venue has played host to the most popular shows and performing artists in the country. Cats, Mama Mia!, The Producers, Movin’ Out. You name it, they’ve had it. And if the show you’re looking for hasn’t played yet, chances are, it will.

The Naples Museum of art is a reflection of the unique spirit and generosity of Southwest Florida. The visual arts center includes a three-story, 30,000-square-foot museum with 15 galleries, a glass dome conservatory, entrance gates by renowned metal artist Albert Paley, spectacular chandeliers and a Persian ceiling by acclaimed glass artist Dale Chihuly, a resource room and the Museum Store. Located at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts in Pelican Bay.

Home of Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. A variety of quality touring productions including Broadway shows, musicals, plays, dance and ballet programs, as well as concerts and other performances by national touring groups.

A trip to the Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium offers visitors keen insight on Southwest Florida's natural history. Daily educational programs allow visitors an up-close-and-personal view of some of the area’s wildlife, including alligators, crocodiles and snakes. The stars are always in line for an adventure to the only planetarium south of Bradenton and west of Miami.

Gulfshore Life recently named Caribbean Gardens "Best Place to Take Kids" in the annual Best of the Gulfshore Awards. A natural path almost one mile in length winds past rare and beautiful animals residing within a 52-acre jungle of exotic plants first planted in 1919 with a fascinating history.

Learn about mastodons and fierce saber cats, Calusa and Seminole Indians, and the rugged pioneers who settled one of America’s last frontiers at the Collier County Museum. Visitors will enjoy five acres of native gardens, two early Naples cottages, swamp buggies and a logging locomotive.

The Corkscrew Swamp is a magnificent natural attraction with cathedral-like cypress forest and abundant resident wildlife. The swamp offers some of the best wildlife and nature viewing and photographic experiences in the world.

Edison and Ford Winter Estates was the winter home of world-renowned inventor Thomas Edison. The estate is one of the greatest historic treasures in Lee County. Completed in 1886, the home served this as a winter retreat and work place for the prolific inventor until his death in 1931. Edison’s friend Henry Ford followed shortly thereafter, purchasing the neighboring property in 1915. The inventive genius of Edison and Ford are evident throughout the 17 acres of riverfront estates.

Gardner Colby Galleries are located in the heart Old Naples on "Gallery Row". Featured many times in prestigious publications such as Arts & Antiques ("Traveling Collector" series), American Art Collector and Fine Art Connossieur magazines, Gardner Colby has also been prominently featured in the travel sections of the Palm Beach Post and the Atlantic Constitution as "tops" for gallery hopping in Naples. They represent an exceptional group of living American and International artists and sculptors, among the most renowned working in the country today. Offering full Art Consulting services to the beginning collector as well as the seasoned buyer, Gardner Colby Galleries are dedicated to giving you a quality art experience in person or on the web.

A fun, interactive experience for children of all ages. Special programs, camps, workshops and events designed to celebrate the natural curiosity of children in a safe and wonderful place. Developed by experts in child psychology, using state-of-the-art technology, their mission is: “To provide an exciting, inspiring environment where children and their families play, learn and dream together”.

Gulfshore Playhouse is passionately devoted to creating high-quality professional theatre at affordable prices and diverse educational opportunities for our region. Producing a full season of plays ranging from venerated classics and Broadway hits to contemporary plays and world premieres, Gulfshore Playhouse is committed to surpassing the standards of every valued patron while continuing to contribute to the vibrant arts and culture scene in Southwest Florida.

Touch a cloud, feel the force of a hurricane, or run through a thunderstorm at Fort Myers’ own Imaginarium. The kids’ museum provides hours of fun and entertainment for the entire family, with more than 60 interactive, educational exhibits, live fish, sharks, turtles, swans, iguanas and animal programs.

The Marco Island Historical Museum offers temporary and traveling exhibits that explore Southwest Florida’s Calusa Indians and trace the settlement of the subtropical island paradise we know today. Vanished civilizations are brought to life with informative displays and recreated village scenes. Come discover the early pioneer roots of this once sparse fishing village, pineapple plantation, and clam cannery and then revel in the explosive growth and development that began in the 1960s.

Located on Marco Island, Otter Mound Preserve is a man-made shell mound created by Calusa natives that resulted in a tropical hardwood hammock community and home site for early settlers in the Caxambas Village who worked in the Marco Island clamming industry. Over 57 species of birds and 127 plant species have been recorded along with opossums, armadillo, raccoons, grey squirrels and bobcats.

Palm Cottage is a prime example of a 19th-century south Florida home, built of a cement-like material made of sand and seashells. The historically accurate interior contains the simple furnishings of the period.

The Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve is a 110,000 acre mangrove forest, upland, and protected water space located at the northern end of the Ten Thousand Islands on the gulf coast of Florida. It is one of the few remaining and undisturbed mangrove estuaries in North America and is home to 150 species of birds, many of which are threatened or endangered.

The Southwest Florida Museum of History is dedicated to preservation and interpretation of the history of the Southwest Florida area with emphasis on Fort Myers. Permanent exhibits include tributes to the Paleo, Calusa and Seminole Indians, Spanish explorers and early settlers.

Located in historic downtown Ft. Myers the center offers an array of cultural and artistic opportunities in the visual and performing arts through dance, theater, musical performances, and film and art exhibitions.